As stated in my Canadian Patent No. 2,434,792 which issued Apr. 13, 2010 for a Removable Load Bed for Vehicles, a frame on a vehicle may be adapted for loading and unloading a movable frame therefrom so that for example the movable frame may be unloaded onto the ground and thereafter may be loaded up from the ground and onto the stationary frame of the vehicle for transportation of the movable frame and associated load bed mounted thereon. Thus in my previous invention for a removable load bed for vehicles, I provided an apparatus having a stationary frame and a movable frame that had a flexible connector mounted on the movable frame for releasably engaging a drive on the stationary frame. A locking system was mounted on the stationary frame to hold the flexible connector in releasable engagement with the drive. In one embodiment, the flexible connector was a chain and the drive included a drive sprocket. The drive hoisted the movable frame by means of the flexible connector onto the stationary frame. The drive engaged the under side of the movable frame so as to translate the movable frame along the length of the stationary frame with the result that the movable frame was positioned directly on top of the stationary frame to provide the load bed mounted on the movable frame as a flat bed for the vehicle. Thus a load mounted onto the load bed could be transported by the vehicle and subsequently unloaded onto the ground so as to leave the load supported on the movable frame resting on the ground. Alternatively, the movable frame and bed could be placed onto the ground and a load mounted thereon, whereafter, the movable frame, bed and load could be hoisted onto the stationary frame for transport by the vehicle.
My Canadian Patent No. 2,434,792, and my corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,840 which issued Feb. 22, 2005, are incorporated herein by reference.
What my previous Removable Load Bed for Vehicles invention did not provide for, and to which the present invention is directed, was detaching the load bed from the movable frame when the load bed, whether or not carrying a load thereon, was mounted on the movable frame and the movable frame unloaded from the stationary frame so as to rest on the ground. I realized that, if the load bed was converted to a platform having for example legs so that it could stand alone elevated a small distance above the ground, I could detach the movable frame from underneath the load bed platform, reload the movable frame onto the stationary frame, thereby allowing the vehicle to depart to pickup a second load bed whether loaded or not, from a different location, where the second load bed was also provided as a stand alone platform. Thus, in order to pickup the second load bed platform, the vehicle merely has to backup to the second load bed platform, unload the movable frame from the stationary frame, guide the unloaded movable frame underneath the platform, secure the movable frame to the platform, and reload the movable frame with the platform mounted thereon back onto the stationary frame so as thereafter transport the platform. Thus I envisioned that such a movable frame and detachable platform would be useful for a preloaded platform which for example may have loaded thereon the equipment necessary for a particular job or jobsite, or may have loaded thereon a portable toilet to be delivered to or moved from a jobsite, or may include a preloaded platform having recreational vehicles ready to go and mounted thereon, for example a pair of ATV's or a pair of snowmobiles, all of which may be simply transported and left in a desired location The desired location may be a storage or job site.
The operator may merely leave behind the loaded platforms, without having to leave behind the movable frame as would have been the case in my previous Removable Load Bed for Vehicles. This allows the movable frame to be re-used to transport other loads on other similar platforms. Pre-loaded platforms may thus be stored ready for use and immediately transported when needed at particular locations without delay. Equipment, amenities, small habitats such as so-called micro-houses may all be pre-configured and preloaded onto a platform waiting transport or retrieval, without the need to strand a movable frame with each platform.
The adaption of my previous removable load bed for vehicles thus required that I sever the movable frame from the load bed, and adapt the load bed to provide a stationary platform. The improvements which this entailed in order to enable the present invention are both summarized and described in detail below.